Ono - Yes, I'm a Witch

Genre rock Publisher Astralwerks External Links Official Yoko Ono Website Official Astralwerks Website

When I first encountered "Death of Samantha," on the Walking on Thin Ice compilation, I was positive Yoko Ono was referring to herself as a "cool chick-a-dee"; Porcupine Tree's unimaginative reimagining (no big deal, guys, it's not like you ruined the song - it's so sublime nobody could, really) of this lament has me thinking it's probably actually "cool chick-baby," and I'm not sure which is preferable. Not that it matters either way - the latter and the former re-inforce the popular perception of John Lennon's widow as precocious and imperial, a reviled (for allegedly breaking up The Beatles) imp with humongous sunglasses perpetually hiding her face. For this remix compilation, the Courtney Love of the Vietnam era has wisely rebranded herself as "Ono," a must to operate in a media landscape roved by mouse-clicking consumers with the attention spans of gnats. The concept: today's indie peeps, using Ono's vocal track originals, remake the lady's songs in their own images. The result: suddenly Yoko Ono is awesome all over again, even when the makeovers are nothing special (see the Porcupine Tree). When the makeovers are something special, Ono's accent-scarred-English and striking lyricism hit harder they did in their previous aural surroundings. For instance: take Peaches' electro-clash smash-up of "Kiss Kiss Kiss," which before bore a cheesed-out disco sheen that's dated badly. Ono's entreaty for tongue or oral sex or both no longer seems quite as cute or amusing; the zap-zap-blurt of burst synths and refracting handclaps lends her awkward demands a new authority. Likewise, "Walking on Thin Ice" goes all Suicide/Spacemen 3-dronetastic then distorted-to-hell-and-back under the perview of Jason Pierce (Spacemen 3/Spiritualized), the original's art-disco-10,000-Maniacs-in-1983-stiletto-ax background excised, for the better. Ono's social, personal, and political ideals, thankfully, here get the resurrection and presentation - participants include the Apples in Stereo, Le Tigre, Cat Power, and the Sleepy Jackson - they need and deserve for the 21st Century; as a bonus, we get the up-until-now-unreleased title track, an uncompromising bit of raaaawk invective backed by Hank Shocklee and the Brother Brothers in separate iterations: "I'm not gonna die for you/You might as well face the truth/I'm gonna stick around/For quite a while." No wonder Thurston Moore's so enamoured of her. But look: another Ono remix project comes out next month; sister o sister, can't you hook a nation thirsty for pop polemists up with some new tunes?